By Sean Jones: Unbeaten lightweight contender Ryan Garcia (18-0, 15 KOs) is sparring with Saul Canelo Alvarez to get ready for his fight next month against Romero Duno (21-1, 16 KOs) on November 2 at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas, Nevada. Canelo and Garcia share the same trainer in Eddy Reynoso, who is getting both guys ready for their respective fights.
Canelo (52-1-2, 35 KOs) is preparing for his own fight against WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev in the main event on November 2. The young 21-year-old Ryan Garcia has been given the co-feature spot for his fight with Filipino slugger Duno.
Ryan Garcia learning from Canelo Alvarez
“Learning from the best @canelo !Showing me how to perfect my techniques💥 Always looking out for me thank you champ,” said Ryan on his Instagram in talking about his sparring with Canelo Alvarez.
The size difference between the rail thin 5’10, 135 pound Ryan Garcia and the much bigger Canelo Alvarez makes you wonder have useful the sparring will be for either guy. It looked Canelo was sparring at 25%, and taking it easy on Garcia.
During one point where Canelo did put some power into a left hook to the body of Garcia, it caused him to back up and start talking. Garcia looked like the shot bothered him.
“Ryan is getting better,” said Canelo Alvarez. “Real good. He’s been learning. I like him a lot. He’s real talented, and he likes to learn. I like that,” said Canelo.
Canelo is being nice by saying Garcia is improving. There’s no way of knowing whether Ryan is improving or not until he starts facing better opposition. What we do know is he’s far behind 20-year-old Devin Haney (23-0, 15 KOs), who recently captured the interim WBC lightweight title.
Haney is a lot more advanced, and it appears to be a sure future star. In Garcia’s case, he’s still a project, and there’s a lot of question marks whether he’s got the ability to go to the next level or not.
Ryan Garcia will be ready soon for world title shot says Canelo
Canelo believes that Garcia will ready to fight for a world title soon, but he’s not saying who he’ll be challenging. It wouldn’t be a good idea for Garcia to face WBA/WBC/WBO lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko, considering that he’s far more advanced. After Lomachenko vacates his titles in early 2020, that’ll free up potentially 4 titles. Ryan can go after one of the freed up belts.
“No. Look, everybody has got their style,” said Canelo when asked if Ryan Garcia’s fighting style is similar to his. “He’s learning, and the things he’s learning in the gym, he’s doing in the fight, and that’s the important thing. He’s learning.
“Like I said, he’s a kid that learns, and that’s really good. He could be ready really soon for a title fight, but there’s no rush. He’s real young, so you want him to be ready. I like his style. I like his style in general. He has a lot of talent,” said Canelo about Ryan.
Garcia needs to spar with guys that are going to get him ready for his fight with Duno, given that the guy is a nonstop pressure fighter. Duno isn’t going to be fighting at one-quarter speed on November 2. He is going to be looking to take Garcia’s head off with every shot.
